The GunsOnPegs Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Does shooting etiquette, clothing and tradition matter? Giles Catchpole is a fieldsports journalist and humourist whose work has graced the pages of numerous magazines over the years. His Shooting Types books - collaborations with renowned sporting cartoonist Bryn Parry - are found in downstairs loos in the right sort of houses up and down the land, owing to his His unique combination of sharp-eyed observation and a witty style. Writing as 'Uncle Giles' in Shooting Gazette, he was a guide on matters sartorial and ethical for many a shooting man and woman for years. 

All of this makes Giles the ideal chap to join Chris and George for a chat about some of the finer points that the conventions, codes and customs of the shooting world throw up, and answer the question that will ring down the ages: why does any of it matter?'

Live from the Game Fair 2024!  A special edition, in which Chris and George sift through the deluge of nominations for Shooting Heroes that they received, and highlight a handful who deserve particular recognition, either for outstanding efforts or because they represent a wider group of people who make a difference in the countryside day-in-day-out. At the end of the episode they choose a shortllst of two and ask the audience to help select a final winner for the day's shooting and the day's fishing on the test so kindly donated by our listener, James. To round things off the pair share a Desert Island Shooting with a difference.

New legislation in Scotland (The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act means that Estates that wish to shoot grouse will require a license. Ross Ewing, Director of Mooland at Scottish Land and Estates joins Chris and George to explain what this all means for grouse shooting in Scotland. Seen by many as a catastrophe, is the new legislation as bad as all that, and are there any positives to be taken from the process, which saw pro-grouse shooting bodies secure several important amendments to the proposals. What can the shooting community in other parts of the UK learn from the Scottish experience? Also in this episode: George shares his own Unpopular Opinion and gets stitched up by Chris, we resolve a challenging shooting/marital quandry, hear about a Forgotten Drive from the USA and discuss the logistics of shooting clays on an aircraft carrier's flight deck.

Do you ever get nervous when you're on the peg, waiting for that first pheasant to break cover? Do you tense up, or worry about what other people might think of your shooting, or have a 'bogey bird'? Do you shoot badly when others are watching? How do you get back on form when the wheels have come off mid-drive?

Oliver Spensley-Corfield is a professional sports psychologist who has worked with a wide variety of professional teams and individuals. He also happens to be an enthusiastic game shot who manages a small Oxfordshire syndicate.

Ollie joins Chris and George to talk about the mental side of game shooting, and how having your head in the right place can help us all to become the best game shots we can be. He also helps to absolve a listener of his chicken-related sins, and solve a taxidermy dilemma.

We have another classic episode from the archives for you! This episode was originally recorded in October 2022 and features the one and only George Digweed, arguably the greatest shot ever. One of the reasons that we have decided to put this episode out again is because later this week Chris and I are recording an episode all about the psychology of game shooting, and how getting your head game right could help improve your shooting. As we all know, I need all the help I can get on that score, so I for one am really excited for it. 

This episode with George is a really interesting chat and his passion for game shooting shines through - but we also get a fascinating insight into his mental approach to both game and clay shooting. if you haven’t heard this episode before, I hope you enjoy it, and if you heard it the first time around, I hope you enjoy listening back to it again. 

----more---- Chris and George are joined by shooting royalty, the G.O.A.T, George Digweed MBE. Despite being a World Champion clay shot multiple times over, game shooting is where it all began for George, and game shooting is still where his heart lies. George offers up his views on practicing for days in the field, greediness on the peg, defending shooting in a public sphere, and how he has maintained his hunger to compete at the top level for more than five decades.

In this episode of The GunsOnPegs Podcast Chris and George are joined by Alex Smith, an independent gunsmith based in Winchester.

Alex is an expert in old English Shotguns, a dyed-in-the-wool side-by-side fan and a former Helice (ZZ) champion. He answers all the questions you've ever wanted to ask a gunsmith but were too afraid to ask, questions like 'Is it OK to cut down the stock on an inherited Holland & Holland?', 'Will my old shotgun take steel?' and 'Whoops, I tried to 'improve' my stock, can you fix it please?'.

Alex also helps us to resolve The Mystery of the Missing Millionaire in Whose Bird is it Anyway?, deal with another unpopular gundog opinion and investigate Hagrid's Hairy Hole.

In this episode we get a unique perspective on the UK shooting world. Liz and Sean Delaney own and operate Delaney and Sons, a US-based sporting agency running shooting trips to the UK, Spain and Morocco for their American clients. The pair have an immediately evident passion for shooting in the UK, and take obvious pleasure in sharing that with their guests.

Liz and Sean share the things that enchant and baffle American game shots about our shooting culture, how they help visitors to these shores to navigate the intricacies and peculiarities of our traditions and customs, and we examine how land ownership and hunting laws result in a different attitude towards hunting on the other side of the Atlantic.

The pair help us to solve one listener's tipping dilemma and the question of how to approach the peg draw; do you have a method? We also share the first submission about drives with unique names in 'Timbuck-Two, Timbuck-Three'. Cover photo: Sarah Farnsworth

Here's a quick teaser for the latest episode of Beyond the Hedge. 

Savour the Shot: Woodcock Hunting, Cooking, and Conservation

In this episode Patrick Galbraith goes out in search of the mysterious woodcock, a beloved bird of hunters, chefs and nature lovers the world over.

Patrick's journey begins in Suffolk with farmer, conservationist and writer Sam Carlisle, and Sam's Hungarian Vizsla, Merlin. The trio head into the woods in an attempt to bag a couple of birds for their lunch.

Later, Tim Maddams, the former River Cottage chef, offers his woodcock-cooking tips, and Sam shows Patrick his favourite way of preparing these remarkable and delicious birds.

Finally, Patrick catches up with Owen Williams, a painter and woodcock conservationist. Owen discusses the complexities of woodcock management and helps Patrick to understand why the question of whether shooting woodcock is sustainable is more complicated than it might appear.

How to listen to Beyond the Hedge

Beyond the Hedge is available on all major podcast apps and platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 

In this episode of the GunsOnPegs Podcast hosts George Browne and Chris Horne are joined by special guest Jamie Blackett, a former soldier in the Coldstream Guards, renowned author, columnist, farmer, political activist, and Scribehounder. We delve into Jamie's passion for nature, his pursuit to preserve British countryside values through his books, and his son's award-winning rum-making venture. 

As the end of the shooting season approaches, in Whose Bird is it Anyway and Unpopular Opinions we tackle the topics of tipping the keeper on a beater's day and wearing tweed breeks for beating. We also unearth some more forgotten drives and launch a brand new feature.

Later on, Jamie shares the history of his family's estate - Arbigland - and the many changes that the shoot has been through over the years that have led to its current form: a privately run, family shoot managed with more than one eye on conservation. We also discuss the challenges to rural sports in Scotland and the impact of unfavourable legislation on communities in Scotland. 

Providing insight into rural narratives as they play out in legislatures, the press and online, Jamie challenges political and media opposition to shooting and rural traditions and makes a compelling case for the need to refute misleading news, and to tackle sensationalism on social media. 

We're thrilled to share with you something that we have been working on for a few months now - a brand new podcast from Scribehound: Beyond the Hedge.

Subscribe to Beyond the Hedge wherever you get your podcasts.  Apple Podcasts Spotify

The documentary-style podcast is hosted by Scribehounder, writer and former Shooting Times editor Patrick Galbraith, who will be going in search of the places, people, traditions and tales that make rural Britain extraordinary.

Join Patrick as he heads out along the backroads to meet publicans, writers, hedgelayers, butchers, poets and keepers of everything from pigs to grey partridges to bees. 

He explores these often-complex and sometimes-thorny themes with the help of real experts – practitioners with their hands in the soil and academics who’ve spent their lives thinking about things like the cultural history of fishing. Beyond the Hedge gets to the heart of rural Britain, as it was, is now and will be in the future.

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In this maiden episode of Beyond the Hedge, Patrick explores how writers depict the countryside.  Who are the very best writers on the countryside today and what’s the difference between “rural writing”, “nature writing” and “sporting writing”? Why do so many so-called “nature writers” dislike the term? 

To help him to understand the subject, Patrick enlists the help of some old-hands. First he heads to Hampshire to speak to Jonathan Young, who edited both Shooting Times and The Field, Britain’s oldest sporting titles. Jonathan shares his thoughts on how sporting magazines have changed over the years and he reveals the three essential pieces of equipment that the Editor of Shooting Times, in its golden period, used to give to every new member of staff and he also shares his thoughts on what sort of day in the field makes for a great magazine feature. 

Patrick then meets up with John Mitchinson, the founder of the publishing house, Unbound. John, who is himself a pig-keeper, has an encyclopedic knowledge of great books on rural Britain. He also has a very clear sense of what the difference is between ‘countryside writing’ and ‘nature writing’. Do people, Patrick asks John, actually want to read about the countryside as it really is?

Finally, Guy Adams, a features writer at the Daily Mail, explains how the internet has impacted economics of newspaper and magazine publishing and he reflects on the effect that this has had on countryside writing. They also discuss the importance of proper writing on the countryside and how new forms of publishing could revitalise the scene by offering writers the chance to be paid properly again for their work.